A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues.

Umpires first began calling both balls and strikes way back in 1864, and baseballers have been arguing about those calls ever since. Strike-zone judgment has been the subject of some untold number of verbal (and,

Beginning Thursday, the automated ball and strike system will allow players to challenge umpires’ calls. If all goes well, the system could debut in regular season games as soon as next year.

Here's a first look at MLB's Automated Ball-Strike challenge system, a compromise between full robot umpires and human umpires, in action during spring training.

Major League Baseball will experiment with the automated ball-strike challenge system in spring training games. The league announced on Tuesday the ABS system will be used for roughly 60 percent of all spring games between the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues.